Planting Grass Seed in Missouri   by Sergio Anthony

in Home / Landscaping    (submitted 2011-08-27)

Missouri is really a prime area for planting cool season grasses, especially tall fescue or fine fescue. Fescue grasses are cool season grasses that happen to be well adjusted for the warmer transitional zones of Missouri and also the cooler northern areas of the state.

Fescues are easily established from seed and feature a tall bunching grass species known as tall fescue and also a finer, lower growing species called fine fescue. Tall fescues are coarser and produce an excellent looking lawn with low maintenance. With a bit more work, fine fescue varieties such as creeping red, hard fescue, chewings fescue, and sheep fescue provides a dwarf-like, very appealing grass surface for your lawn. Both tall and fine fescue are drought tolerant which enables them to make great lawns within the drier regions of Missouri.

Fescue grasses are not just drought tolerant, but are shade tolerant as well and will grow well in the lower regions of the state where summers can be too warm for other cool season grasses. Fescue grasses produce good lawns in Missouri because all varieties share three significant properties. All fescues are shade tolerant, drought tolerant, and grow green all year round. Fine fescue varieties will be more cold and shade tolerant and would grow better towards the northern parts of the state and the tall fescue varieties can be more suitable in the southern regions but both can be utilized throughout the state of Missouri.

Fescue grasses will continue to be green throughout the year while in the cooler climates but goes dormant in locations where the summers are far too hot or where the winters are way too cold. If such conditions are present, fescues may change to a pale green color. Fescue grasses could be seeded alone however are often purchased in grass blends with Kentucky bluegrass and/or rye grass varieties. Some fescue varieties may also be used in over-seeding warm season grass lawns.

The best time for planting grass seed in Missouri is between Aug. 25 and Oct. 10. Keep under consideration that lawns seeded within a week of Labor Day are more likely to fill in completely for winter and produce a thicker, more dense turf look for spring as compared to lawns seeded in October. You wish to seed while in the late summer because of the warmer temperatures along with sufficient water that will encourage grass seed germination.

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And finally, if you are looking for more useful information on planting grass seed, grass fertilizer, and many other lawn care information, please check out the Planting Grass Seed Center.